Phantom Love (Wicked) Review

Running Time: 87 min.

Production Date: 7 / 18 / 2001

Director: Jim Enright

Cast: Stephanie Swift, Kimi Lixx, Kylie Ireland, Mia Smiles, Nikita Denise, T. J. Hart, Anthony Crane, Dale DaBone, Dillion Day, Evan Stone, Steven St. Croix, and Anthony Crane in a non-sex role

Initial Expectations: Stephanie, Kimi, Kylie.... BOING!!!

Initial Reaction: It’s hot and has a really fun attitude. I couldn’t help but like it.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody looking for a fun bit of porn with a nice balance between sex styles

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody looking for a large plot or extremely nasty sex

Audio /Video Quality: Wicked is known for some of the best technical aspects around, and Phantom Love doesn’t disappoint much in that area. Thea audio is clear and well balanced. The video is also very clear, but for the first few minutes there’s a wide black bar along the bottom edge of the screen. It’s also a bit dark at times, but the darkness isn’t too out of place with the setting.

Music: The music is pretty typical in style, and balanced nicely with the rest of the audio. The balance does change a bit throughout the feature, which helps it to enhance the scenes at times, but it does slightly overpower the scenes at some other times.

Menus: Wicked has always put a lot of thought into their menus, and it isn’t any different here. There’s some decent animation to the menus, but the main menu can be a little hard on the eyes because of it. The chapter menu lets you choose a scene by a scene number and a small clip of the scene. Normally this would be pretty standard, but her it’s altered with a lot of ghosting to each image. Although kind of amusing in an ironic way, it makes the chapter menu very hard to use or look at.

The Feature: When Steven St. Croix decides to shoot his latest porno at a 300 year old manor, he gets a little more than he bargained for. He thought he was just getting a good deal on a set, but soon finds out that they has some extra company in the ghosts that haunt the manor. Most of the ghosts have kept themselves occupied by boinking each other, with the exception of Kimi Lixx who died a virgin and is still saving herself for her true love. When the ghosts find out they have visitors, however, they set out to have some real fun.

Ghost Dillion Day starts out tonguing Kylie Ireland’s ghostly twat and ass while super cutie Kimi Lixx watches, and surprisingly doesn’t finger each hole. Kylie returns the favor by gobbling Dillion’s knob and stroking his shaft before sliding herself onto it cowgirl style. Enright shows a great eye as a director here by using a mirror to frequently show two angles to the action at the same time, and then moves Kylie to her back to take Dillion in each of her holes. Dillion finally sprays Kylie from bush to tit before they kiss passionately. It’s a pretty hot scene with good chemistry, just as I’ve come to expect from each of these performers.

Ghosts Mia Smiles and Nikita Denise decide to check out the new visitors next, with Mia crawling into Steven St. Croix’s bed and Nikita exploring Stephanie Swift. The ghosts welcome their guests orally before getting any oral action themselves. The girls move on to sixty nine as well as Stephanie fucking Nikita’s ass with a dildo, while Mia lets Steve bone her from behind and missionary style before decorating her chest. It’s a pretty hot double scene with some very nice energy and chemistry.

Kylie Ireland finds her own human with Dale DaBone, who’s cock she works out and down her throat. Dale returns the favor by working Kylie’s pink pussy over with his tongue, fingers, and finally cock as Kylie talks dirty to him. She moves on to ride him in the cameraman favorite reverse cowgirl before taking an impressive facial. It’s a hot scene with very nice chemistry. Kylie rarely seems to put less than 110% into her scenes, and this one’s no different.

Meanwhile, ghost Evan Stone has his own fun with porn star T. J. Hart, who amusingly looks like an overly made up Jenna wannabe, and Stephanie Swift as he encourages them to take care of each other. T. J. starts off fingering Stephanie’s stubbly snatch before letting her tongue her tantalizing twat. Finally, Evan gets all the way into the scene, as he fucks T. J. missionary style while Stephanie watches and plays with T. J. and herself a little. Evan doesn’t neglect Stephanie, and fucks her missionary style next as T. J. watches and plays with both of them. Finally the girls team up to suck Evan until his ghostly guy goo goes on both their faces. It’s a hot and fun scene with nice chemistry between all three of the performers. Both Stephanie and T. J. play things fairly subdued, but look to be having fun throughout the scene. Evan really steals the scene, however, with his obvious enjoyment of watching the girls and playing with them to get it started.

Finally, ultra-cutie Kimi Lixx lets Steven St. Croix take her virginity 300 years after she died. Somehow Steven tries to resist her at first, but all resistance vanishes when Kimi drops to her knees and starts slowly sucking his cock. Steven reciprocates by eating Kimi out and then letting her ride his cock in the beginner favorite reverse cowgirl style. They move on through missionary with Steven finally blasting Kimi with his mayonnaise cannon from her well trimmed bush to the top of her head and Kimi sucking up the remnants. It’s an extremely hot scene with great chemistry. Kimi looks amazing here, and throws such obvious enjoyment into the scene that it’s impossible not to like it. Her smiles throughout the scene light up her entire face, and leave no question to whether or not she’s enjoying herself. Kimi has often cited this as one of her best scenes, which it is without a doubt.

Phantom Love is a nice bit of fluffy porn. The plot is simple and works more as a framework for the scenes than anything else. Although this style often disappoints me, the entire cast does such a great job with it that I couldn’t help but love it. Everybody playing the ghosts, especially Kylie Ireland, Evan Stone, and most of all, Kimi Lixx, play their roles with such fun and excitement that they’re impossible to not like. Heck, even with a paper thin premise I found myself looking forward to the non-sex scenes. Stephanie Swift and Steven St. Croix also do a great job as the real people, and add a nice uncertainty about their situation to play off the ghosts fun. The sex is just as fun, with everybody in the cast doing a great job. Kimi and Kylie stand out at the top here, although the others also do a great job. Phantom Love is a dang fun fuck flick.

Extras: Once again, Wicked has included several photo gallery, all of which mix full screen photos and snapshots. The move photo gallery lasts about two minutes and the behind the scenes gallery lasts about a minute and a half with about four and a half seconds per photo. There’s also star galleries from the feature for Stephanie Swift, Kylie Ireland, Nikita Denise, T. J. Hart, Mia Smiles, and Kimi Lixx that last between a minute and a half and two minutes. Audio bios are also included for Stephanie Swift, Kylie Ireland, Nikita Denise, T. J. Hart, Mia Smiles, Kimi Lixx, Steven St. Croix, Dillion Day, and Evan Stone. Each bio includes a small clip for the performer from the feature, a fair amount of personal information, a list of some of the star’s other Wicked credits, and a link to the star’s scene. Trailers are included for Crazed, Hell on Heels, Flashpoint, Dream Quest, Knockout, Satyr, Vengeance, and Working Girl. The other Wicked standard extras are also here, such as promotional materials, company profile, a listing of Wicked’s award winning and nominated DVDs, web links, a commercial for the Free Speech Coalition, and the Wicked Casino.

All Access: The Making of Phantom Love, lasts about twenty two minutes. As usual, everybody is nicely identified as they take the screen, which is one of the little touches that I think really shows a lot of care from Wicked. You get to see the movie and photo galleries being shot, as well as the cast screwing around between takes. It’s a nice featurette, and is worth watching at least for the hygiene lesson Evan Stone gives with T. J. Hart.

Finally, as Wicked has also been doing lately, there’s also a few Easter eggs hidden throughout the DVD. There’s about a minute of outtakes that’s extremely funny as Steven St. Croix tries to make Stephanie Swift crack up doing her lines. There’s also about a couple thirty second clips. The first is of Anthony Crane being made up as the old man and the second is Stephanie Swift hunting for her camera shy dog.

Themes: Straight, rimming (male > female and female > female), anal, inter-racial, lesbian, group, spanking, and toys

Raincoat Factor: Medium high

Overall: Currently, most Wicked DVDs can be found online for between $21 and $28 with most stores offering them about in the middle of this range. If you’re a fan of anybody in the cast, this is going to be a pretty fair price. The movie’s hot and fun and has a great transfer. There’s even a few nice extras, such as a behind the scenes featurette to help make it work the extra money.

Note to Wicked: As usual, nice job here although the black bar across the bottom at the beginning looked a little sloppier than normal for you.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

Other reviews by Astroknight